Nissan Pathfinder No Start Problems

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My 2005 Nissan Pathfinder started to give me problems as soon as I reached 40k miles. If I left the car without using it for a couple of days, it did not start. It was a valve inside thefuel pump that needed to be replaced. The dealer did not want to do it, since it was past the 36k warranty. They wanted to charge over $500. In the manual it says that the fuel pump is covered up to 60K. I called Nissan USA and opened a case and got the car fixed. Soon after that, the fuel gauge is not working properly. Now to replace it, it is also not under warranty and the tank has to come down again. I am not the only one with the fuel gauge problem and I believe that Nissan should step up to the plate and replace all of the fuel gauges, since they only work up to 40k miles. I do not want to buy the oroginal part, since I will probably have the same problem down the road at the next 40k miles. If you have had this problem, please write to me and I will forward the complains to the CEO of Nissan USA, since it seems that if you contact anybody else, it just gets thrown into a trash can! :mad:

were you ever able to figure out your starter problem. im having the same one. when i turn the key all i get is a click. i have to turn it again and again for sometimes 5 mins or more before it will finally catch and start. i have a 94 nissan. Does anyone have any suggestions. also it has a new battery

I have 2005 pathfinder, drove to Boston on july 4th, made 2 stops on the way. at the hotel took bags out and tried to restart and qwould not start. just clikc clikc click. had it jumpstarted, checked battery, nothing wrong. cleaned the battery terminals, havent had the problem since. go figure. I also had the VDC ligh on for 5 minutes after restart.

This is a common problem with this vintage of PF. The wiring ages, and there's not enough juice to drive the solenoid far enough to power the starter. Hence the click, but no turnover. The solution is to insert a relay that applies battery power directly to the solenoid when activated. The activation voltage comes from the original wire to the solenoid. Sounds more complicated than it is. There are a couple of pages you can find that describe this better. Applied the fix to my PF about a month ago and have had no further problems with the starter...

I have a 2005 Nissan Pathfinder and have problems with the oil gauge and the tach...can be sitting at a light and it will act like it will die...dealer unable to give me an answer and no codes. Now the gas gauge, I always keep my car above half a tank, and all of a sudden it stopped working, SES light comes on and all of this happens when I have to get my car e-checked and buy plates, now I cannot get my plates unless I get it fixed. This is ridiculous on a 4 year old car, I am an avid Nissan owner and drive nothing else, I have owned 30 Nissans in my life and love them, but I have to agree with the other post....now they are made in America so I guess they are going to have the same reputation that the US cars have...crap! I will be contacting Nissan Corp about the problem.

Ooooh, sorry to tell you gatorbait, but you're Nissan is made in the good old USA. Go check your VIN and I bet the first character is between 1 and 5, which means it was made in the USA; if it's the letter J, then it was made in Japan. I bought this truck new in 05 and have had nothing but problems with it, only to find out now it was made in the USA. The USA is good at free economies and kicking international butt, but there horrible at making cars!

I have a 94 pathfinder that needing jumping off last night. Today I put new battery in it and cranked it. It started fine. Cut it off and know it will not start and I get nothing from the switch. All acc. work and all power items work, but not trying to start. tried cranking with headlights on and will not dim, so I think starter is good any and all suggestions?????

I changed the battery on my of 2005 PF and when i tried to restart it, it just clicked, spoke with my brother who is a mechanic and he told me to smack the starter motor with a lump hammer while someone tried turning the ignition - this worked ! - it was a stuck solonoid in the starter motor.

However now several months later am now getting the problem where it has failed to start twice, but if you leave it 30 minutes it starts ok. Does this sound like the valve in the fuel pump that is mentioned earlier in this thread ? - mine is now way past warranty period unfortunately.

Interestingly we also had the fuel gauge issue and had that replaced (not under warranty), and also the leaking radiator into the transmission ($6000 - fortunately Nissan USA paid this as a goodwill payment when i complained and opened a case).

On Saturday started the SUV took to a store, no issues. coming out and trying to start, nothing but tick tick tick noise when I crank the ignition and also the guel gauge the rpm and the batter amp gauge would move for no reason with the keys OUT of th ignition. Had to jump start the car and took at to the dealrer immediately. The VDC OFF and SLIP alarm lights were steady ON the whole time.

the dealer called me today to tell me that I need new battery ($133.00) and the (+) terminal cable is corroded and needs replacement ($310.00). This is on top of $94.00 diag. Fee. What a scam! But regardless, he says that s the reason for all the weird computer games! I will p/u the pathy today and test it out. I declined the wire replacement and opted for a $31.00 patch cable. :sick: :sick:

I have a 2006 Pathfinder with 52000 miles and am having the same problem. The gas gauge isn't working, nor is the destination to empty reading and the service engine soon light is on. A repair shop is telling me it needs a new fuel pump $700 which is not under warranty any longer. Please forward me any info you have on getting this taken care of.

Ricardo:I took mine to the dealer for gauge issues, and he had to drop the fuel tank to get to the fuel level sensor to replace it. The service engine light might be related to something else. If you are not up for an inspection, dont bother with the engine light for now. I will get you the total cost on my fuel level sensor tomorrow. IMHO, if you can reset your odometer reading every time you fill up; I would save the $700 for now, int this economy, I would put off all unnecessary expenses,

I have the same problem with my 2005 Nissan Pathfinder. it has 57 k and it wont start properly in order to start i need to press on the gas pedal for a couple of times while turning the key. Then the VDC light comes on but no SES. If any one has an idea what the problem please reply.

Do not put more miles on it. The problem is covered by the 60k mile warranty that you have on the powertrain. Your problem is a valve located on the feul pump. Since the feul pump is covered under the 60k standard factory warranty you should have no problem. Before taking it to the dealer contact Nissan Usa warranty department and tell them about the problem so that they issue you a case #. Once you have the case #, then you go to the dealer and tell them that you want the feul pump replaced. I would also try to get the feul sensor gauge replaced since they are going to lower the feul tank anyway. This is not covered under the warranty, but since they are going to lower the tank anyway ask them to give you a brake in the price. I am trying to make them recall the feul sensor unit since there is more than enough evidence that the part will fail at about 40k miles.

I also drive a 2006 Pathfinder and I had the same problem which should be under your warranty because I took it straight to the dealership as soon as it acted up and they replaced my fuel pump and changed my whole front display with the gauges for free.Honestly when these things happen go to nissan before a mechanic because you don't want anyone to do anything that will void your warranty .

Trouble started right after adding fuel. Running rough and just quit within a couple of miles. Figured it was bad fuel and knocked out fuel pump. Replaced pump, started several times, drove 30 miles and it would not start again. Removed cables, to try reset computer, replaced cables and started several times, quit again. Don't know what to try next! No codes are showing up on computer diagnostics. Any ideas?

Hi did you ever get any resolve for your issue. It was raining really bad a few weeks ago. I stopped at a Taco Time (my daughter wasn't done messing around in the back seat so I had her open her door, I locked the doors). When we got back out to the car it would not start. Check that all the indicators were ok. Radio, guages, and everything else was fine. I checked under the hood for any possible issues. Let it sit for a few minutes while I looked up the issue on my Blackjack. Posts were pointing to alarm system which made sense because of the senario above. I had someone help me push my Pathfinder to jump start it and ran fine all weekend. I then have been having the same issues still. I have had to park it in locations where I can roll and jump start myself. Fortunately I drive it from home to the park and ride. I was told that the iginition wires could have become corroded and I currently have my hood open and will research.

So, the latest on this is the following. I checked up under near the starter and was very oily. I bought my Pathfinder used and has a slight oil leak issue. So, I sprayed everything down around the alternator with Starter fluid. Then blew out the sensor that appears to go directly to the starter and directly exposed to the elements. Spraying down the sensor with the canned air upside down freezes all the crap off of it. I tested to see if it would start and it would not. Then I blew it off normally to dry it out. Attempted to start again and fired right up. I took it for a spin and turned it off multiple times at different intervals. Started each time. I do believe this sensor sit right out in the front and during bad weather gets all wet and stays wet for a long time. Check the images out that I uploaded.

Ok, here is everything I have done hoping for help in right direction; 1st Battery died, replaced. Everything fine for 2 weeks, 2nd changed oil and air filter, problem begins, idling in store lot car shuts down took 3 tries to get started. 3rd started car to leave work and acted like it wanted to shut down, but didn`t. service engine light on, had checked fuel sending unit bad,4th contacted nissan dealer asked if this would harm car, answer was no just keep gas in it,5th Sat. after thanksgiving car shut down on me several times while aout running around, took several attempts to get started, finally made it home and let car sit, tried to start later and started fine. 6th The next day would not start at all had a local mech. come by and check code again, fuel pump bad. 7th Tried several thing like spark, MAS,and a few others, no luck, finally changed fuel pump and fuel sending unit, nothing, but 3 seconds of run time. 8th Tried starting with MAS unplugged nothing. Does anyone thing this could be a security problem or somethign else? I am open to any suggestions, I am going to have to hand it over to a shop soon, need my car back. Thanks for any ideas/help. :sick:

Found your problem due to your message. My 05 pathfinder would not start and after reading your post I was not going to go thru this. Never done any repairs before, but sure can surf the web. google ipdm-er failure/replacement 04-06 and follow the temporary relay swap. Hopefully this will do it.

I appreciate the info. Did this fix your Pathfinder? I know that when I try to start sometimes it tries to fire and acts like it is out of timing, ( I have not read the full article yet to see if this one of symptoms he had ) I just know that I am at my witz end with this, and Nissan is no help at all, I cannot believe haynes, chilton has not published a repair book on 2005`s yet, I always purchase them and if I sell the car I leave it in the car. Thanks for any other reply, and for this info.

UPDATE on `05 PATHFINDER!!! Used the info sent to me by Nick P ( Thanks Nick) Anyway if you do try this, and the test step works I suggest doing the relay switch anyway, the test did work on my Path., and I did the switch out, truck started up with ease. So I am posting the link so maybe this will save someone else money and time, if you are not on page one of post go there this will give you all the step needed to do this yourself, http://www.titanspot.com/Titan/index.php?showtopic=9442&st=0, I did this in about 20 to 25 minutes to check if this was the problem, again thanks Nick and I hope this helps someone else. I know this is a Titan site but hey they are both Nissans. GOOD LUCK!

I have a 1994 Nissan Pathfinder that wont start up. The engine sounds like it is cranking but it never actually starts. The radio and windshield wipers in the car come on but the headlights stay off. The security system randomly goes off too. All of the sudden the little red light comes on and ding goes off in the car and they next thing you know the horn is going off. are these problems related? If so how can I fix them? The most important thing is I get it running so I can get to work.

I was driving home from school as i applied the gas all gauges except fuel went dead and car was stuck in 2nd or 3rd gear. Pulled over because I had no torque. This has happened before after doing donuts due to fail safe in tranny after excessive wheel spin and usually I turn the car off and the tranny resets. So i tried this and went to turn the car back on and had nothing no clicking or anything. Checked fuses and the meter fuse was popped after i replaced the fuse and got a jump car started up and I barely got it home before it shorted again. Took altenator out wasn't the problem. I tried replacing the fuse multiple times and every time the key is turned to the on position the fuse blows. The fuse is called meter and after calling the local dealer we determined that fuse controls the gauges. My neighbor an electrician and I took apart the whole dash looking for the problem after my neighbor tested we determined it is the white wire with black stripe coming out of the meter fuse that controls gauges and warning lights that was shorted out. Any Ideas on how to fix this would be greatly appreciated to get me back on the road.

I have a 96 PF with a 3.3L engine. Had a no start issue a week ago....no clicking....no cranking....nothing. Lights were bright and didnt dim when trying to start car. Radio and clock work perfectly. Checked connections as well as I could without tools as I was away from home. After 10 min and as many attempts to start it, I jiggled the shift lever and car started. No other issues since until yesterday. Almost didnt start. Sounded sluggish and weak, but started after a few seconds. Today car wont start at all. Same symptoms as a week ago. Jiggling shift lever doesnt help. Attempting to start in Neutral doesnt work. Jumping battery doesnt help. Any ideas?